Driving in Tokyo?

Am I crazy? Maybe.

I'm moving to a new apartment in a couple weeks, and it includes a parking spot. So I'm thinking about getting a car. For shopping and weekend trips, it'd be useful.

Typhoon Fitow Strikes Japan

Throughout the office building, a woman's voice advised, "We recommend you go home early today." I think most people heeded the advice and headed home before 6:00 p.m.

Typhoon Fitow is striking Japan tonight and overnight. You can follow the storm's progress at the Japan Meteorological Agency's typhoon page.

Passport to Delay

I hope the next administration in Washington improves the U.S. passport system. According to press reports, the system is broken, with long delays.

My passport expires in August, 2008. That means I can no longer obtain 12 month visas from many countries, because most countries will not issue visas that last longer than the passport itself. So I decided to pursue getting my passport renewed now, in person, at the U.S. Embassy (a.k.a. "The Fortress") in Tokyo. The Fortress is only a 15 or 20 minute walk away from where I live.

I filled out and printed the online renewal form, to be ready to go when I arrived. However, I quickly found out that it's the wrong form. You'd think the State Department would have the correct form available. The Fortress staff are quite friendly and helpful, so that's a plus. The cashier accepts U.S. credit cards for the fee and charges U.S. dollars, so there's no problem with foreign exchange. There's a fast and effective photo booth to obtain the proper sized pictures. All that works well.

The problem is that you have to surrender your passport to process the renewal, and renewal could take a couple weeks. Hasn't anybody figured out that's a huge problem for the prototypical global businessman, not to mention many other people? I'm still trying to understand how a U.S. citizen staying in Tokyo but without an alien registration card ("short term" stay) would be able to comply with Japanese law while getting a passport renewed. Most countries expect you to have your passport (or alien registration card, for longer term stays) handy at all times while visiting.

The other problem is that if The Fortress has your passport, you're stuck and cannot leave Japan. If I get an urgent call tomorrow to go fix some problem two hours away in Korea, there's nothing I can do. If there's a family emergency, I need to hope I can retrieve my passport from The Fortress.

So why does The Fortress need to hold my current passport in order to renew it? And why hasn't anyone figured out that's a huge problem? I could understand holding it for the day. (Most visa issuing countries will let you drop off a passport in the morning and pick it up in the afternoon, stamped with the visa.) But 10 days? Two weeks?

I can only imagine how much worse it could be at other embassies. As I said, the staff were quite friendly and helpful. It's the process itself that makes no sense in 2007.

While I think visas should be abolished for tourism and short-term business trips at least, I do want to applaud Australia for having the most convenient and trouble-free visa system I've encountered. The whole process is available online, instantly. You type in your passport details and your credit card details (for the small fee), click a button, and a few seconds later you have your visa. Airlines can electronically verify you have a visa when you check in and, if you don't, they can do the same thing for you on the spot. In fact, the whole process is so painless that Australia doesn't even call it a visa. Granted, if you're a citizen from a country that Australia wants to discriminate against, usually for economic stereotyping reasons, then the process is much slower and more painful.

"Tokyo Breakfast"

I'm not sure what to make of this Japanese television pilot that never made it into full production. It spoofs many bad American sitcoms.

But Does She Know Where Japan Is?

Smile, You're at a Kaiten-zushi

I'm headed to Melbourne, Sydney, and Canberra in about a week, and I'll have a little bit of time for tourism. Any suggestions where to go, what to see, and what to do?

Strong Earthquake

At about 10:15 a.m. Tokyo time this morning on July 16, we felt a strong earthquake. This earthquake hit 6.6 (on the Japanese 7 point scale) on the western coast, so that meant roughly a 2 in metropolitan Tokyo.

Unfortunately today is a public holiday (Ocean Day) here in Japan, so I suspect many people are at home. While it's unlikely anyone was hurt near Tokyo, I am concerned about the western parts of Japan and whether anyone was caught inside an older home.

A Unique Mechanical Calculator

I find the history of computing fascinating, and very often I learn a new detail about the complex evolution of how mankind adds two plus two.

So I was thrilled to discover that, for a little over two decades, a small European company manufactured a mechanical calculator weighing as little as half a pound: the Curta. It's an engineering marvel, and it doesn't use any electricity. Curta sold these interesting miniaturized devices until 1973, by which time electronic calculators had rendered even the most inventive mechanical calculators obsolete in most parts of the world. (The abacus is still popular in a few countries, and in certain specialized fields, such as aviation, analog slide calculators are still fairly common.)

I watched one Curta on eBay soar to a closing price of US$1150. Clearly I'm not the only person to find these gadgets interesting.

Introducing Paul Pott

A longer version of the clip my brother recommended. Enjoy.



Update: This clip comes from ITV's programme Britain's Got Talent. The winner will perform for The Queen in a variety show. In his debut performance above, Paul sang a part of the aria "Nessun dorma" from Puccini's Turandot. Nessun dorma means "Let no one sleep." I think Simon Cowel was wide awake.

Update #2: Paul won.

10 Reasons Why the Mainframe is Growing in Importance

CA offers a useful list describing the biggest reasons why mainframes are becoming more relevant to today's businesses. I like this list, although I'd make clear that the numbers don't imply a ranking.